Ballasting



(No Model.)

* P; G. JOHNSON.

BALLASTING.

a mans Phmvutmgnphur. Washington. a. a

R 1 i 4. w 1% m n O. A w m UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK G. JOHNSON, GIT-BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

BALLASTING.

srncrrrcnrron forming T ctZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK G. J'oHNsoN, a

, citizen of the UnitedStates, residing in the need to be provided.

It is well known that steamboats,especially those thatare employed chiefly or in part for carrying passengers, need to be frequently ballasted, for the reason that the passengers move from one side to the other of the boat, while all vessels need to be more or less trimmed or ballasted from time to time, as the wind may blow against them from different directions. This ballasting heretofore has been accomplished by means of moving from one side to the other of the boat what' are known as heavy-chain boxes, which are often weighted with tons of pig-iron. There are serious obo jections to this method of temporarily ballasting of boats: First, they are dead weights; second,it is heavy work to move them; third,

by the nature of things they must be drawn on an upgrade; fourth, they damage the deck of the boat; fifth, when the boat is much down on one side the chain boxes cannot be moved,

land just at the time when the ballasting is most needed, even to the saving oflthe boat from peril and destruction; sixth, in case of a heavy lurching of the boat these chain boxes slide and dash through the side of the boat and go overboard; seventh, these boxes often need to be moved just at the time the boathands are needed for other work to save the boat from peril.

To obviate these objections and place the ballasting of boats within the power of the pilot, who always knows when the boat is out of trim, is the object of my invention, which I attain by the means illustrated inthe accompanying drawing.

part of Letters Patent No. 284,210, dated September 4, 1883, Application filed December 2'2, 1882. (No model.) 7

The drawing represents a vertical transverse section of a steamboat about midships, in which A A represent the lower or main deck; BB, the saloon-deck; O O, the hurricane-deck; F F, the floor in the hull of the "boat; E E, the boiler; DD, the pilot-house.

Extending from the boiler E E to the lower side of the saloon-deck B B is an iron steam pipe, K, which extends in opposite directions, as J J, and connects with the water-tanks H H, one on either side of the boat, placed as far from the vertical center of the boat as practicable. These tanks are made preferably of light boiler-iron, and of sufficient size to hold as much water as may be required to ballast the boat. GGare supply and discharge pipes, the lower ends of which extend down through the keel of the boat at G, and the upper ends of which enter one into one of the tanks H cocks of these air-pipes are at and connected withthe handles l 1.

Having designated the various parts of my device, I will now explain the function of each,

and their combined operation to accomplish the ballasting of boats.

Supposing both tanks H H to be empty of everything but air, and that the pilot desires to trim the boat by adding weight to the right hand side. To do this he first has to turn the right-hand cock j, (the right-hand cock being already open which will allow steam from the boiler to enter the right-hand tank and drive the airdtherefrom down through the righthand pipe G This being done, (which takes but a moment,) the pilot now closes the righthand cock 1', whereupon the steam in the righthand pipe G and tank Hwill be instantly condensed by the cold water in which the boat floats, producing a vacuumin said pipe and tank, which of course will cause the water to rush into and fill the said tank with a force equal to fifteen pounds to the squareincli. The

, 7 O and the other into the other tank. The steamnot be necessary to fill the tankHfull to properly trim the boat, the pilot stops the flow of the water into the tank by closing therighthand cock 9 whenever the boat is in perfect trim. When in time the boat needs to be again trimmed, the pilot will admit more water by again opening the right-hand cock G, provided more weight is still required 011 this side; but in the event this side is already too heavy, he Will first open the right-hand air-cock l, and then the right-hand cock G, whereupon the water in the tank will flow out through the pipe G. Should both tanks be empty, and the left-hand side of the boat should need to be weighted, it will be accomplished in the same manner as above described, as the apparatus is the same on either side of the boat.

By means of my invention it will be seen that the pilot has control of trimming or ballasting the boat, and all the above objections, inseparable from the present method, are obviated.

I do not limit myself to any particular an rangement of the various pipes and cocks and handles of the cocks, whereby only the pilot can work the device, as they may be so arranged that the deck-hands or the engineer can work the faucets or cocks, should it bepreferable so to do. Neither do I limit myself to 0 placing the cooks j j in any particular positionbetween the boiler and the tanks HH; nor do I limit myself to placing the cooks g g in any particular position, only so that they are between the water in which the boat floats and the tanks H H.

I am aware that the lifting of water for various purposes by means of a vacuum produced by condensation of steam is not new. Therefore I do not claim the mere raising of water by means of a vacuum irrespective of its application to any particular purpose; but

What I do claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In various boats, for ballasting the same, the combination of the steam-boiler E E, the steam-pipes J J, having the cut-off cocks jj, the tanks H H, and water-pipes G G, having the cut-off cocks g g", substantially in the manner and for the purposes described.

. 2. In various boats, for ballasting the same, the combination of the steamboiler E E, the steam-pipes J J, having the cut-off cocks j j, the tanks H H, water-pipes G G, having the cut-01f cocks g g, and air-pipes L L, having the cut-off cocks Z l, substantially in the manner and for the purposes set forth.

' FRANK G. JOHNSON.

Witnesses:

N. O. HALSTED, J NO. J. MALMAR. 

